Tony Blair flew into the Middle East yesterday for his first visit as a special international envoy, hoping to spark a fresh peace initiative at a time of long-stalled negotiations.

Mr Blair flew first to Amman, where he met the Jordanian foreign minister, and then travelled in a private, unmarked, white jet to Tel Aviv. His motorcade was rushed out of Ben Gurion airport and on to Jerusalem, where photographers and autograph hunters waited for the former prime minister at the King David hotel.

As a "representative"of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators - the EU, the US, the UN and Russia - Mr Blair has been given the task of supporting Palestinian governance and economic development. But he is reported as wanting to extend that remit to work on the broader and more complex problem of restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Yesterday there appeared to be concern from some Israeli officials about a broadening of his task. "Blair is not necessarily the best thing that has happened to Israel in recent times, and that is putting it mildly," one unnamed senior cabinet minister told the newspaper Ma'ariv. "He may try to overstep the bounds of the mandate that he has been given."

Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Israel saw his role as helping Palestinian institutions. "Seeing their capacity to rule grow will definitely help the bilateral track," she said.

Yesterday Mr Blair met the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, as well as British diplomats. Today he will meet the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, before travelling to Ramallah to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. Then he will have dinner with Mr Olmert.

"This is a preliminary visit to hear the views of key Israelis and Palestinians about the issues that have to be addressed in order to fulfil the demanding mandate Mr Blair has taken on," said a spokesman for Mr Blair.

In London, a former UN ambassador suggested that Mr Blair's influence in America could help to revive the peace process, as he and fellow peers launched a report critical of the Quartet's record.

The cross-party committee - which includes Lady Symons, Labour's former Middle East minister - urged the EU to participate more "actively and forcefully" in a renewed push and to press the US to show an "active, balanced and consistent interest and engagement".

"Obviously [Mr Blair] is a politician who has an audience in the US ... That must be an advantage since the US is an important player in this," said Lord Hannay.

But he cautioned: "The Middle East peace process is littered with the whitening bones of envoys who have set out and been defeated."

Today's report from the House of Lords EU committee warns that the situation could deteriorate quickly.

The report also urges the European Union to persuade Israel to hand the tax and customs revenues it has withheld to the Palestinian authorities and calls for preliminary discussions on whether the EU could support a settlement via a peacekeeping mission.